What a day! An early start to catch the "Early Bird" trip to Mull, Iona and Staffa which went slightly haywire. We caught the ferry from Oban to Mull, boarded a bus at Craignure to take us to Fionnphort where we were scheduled to board a boat for a trip to Staffa, followed by a couple of hours on Iona before our return to Mull and Oban. The organisation of busing at Craignure left a little to be desired as there were two buses, no signs, no directions given etc so that about a dozen of us boarded a large bus, had our tickets accepted by the driver and off we went. Unfortunately we arrived at Fionnphort as the boat was leaving the port - we then waited about 30 minutes for the ferry to Iona, were given a little over an hour to explore the ancient monastery and the rest of the small island before being whisked off to Staffa and Fingal's Cave and the incredible basalt columns. Even after the small disappointment of having so little time on Iona the day was just wonderful! We finished it off with a night out at a Ceilidh dance - a bit of dance, bagpipes and lots of dancing by the "audience"
Oban Harbour early morning
Duart Castle, Mull
Stone bridge, Mull
Loch on Mull - the soft light in the morning was very calming
Iona harbour with the Monastery in the background
Nunnery with two rather dubious nuns praying (probably for a glass of wine)
The Iona monastery, over 1400 years old (restored a bit though)
Fingal's cave and the amazing basalt columns - these form part of the Finn McCool story and match a similar formation in Ireland
The columns twisted and lay in all sorts of angles
An early start to catch the "Early Bird" trip to Mull, Iona and Staffa which went slightly haywire. We caught the ferry from Oban to Mull, boarded a bus at Craignure to take us to Fionnphort where we were scheduled to board a boat for a trip to Staffa, followed by a couple of hours on Iona before our return to Mull and Oban. The organisation of busing at Craignure left a little to be desired as there were two buses, no signs, no directions given etc so that about a dozen of us boarded a large bus, had our tickets accepted by the driver and off we went. Unfortunately we arrived at Fionnphort as the boat was leaving the port - we then waited about 30 minutes for the ferry to Iona, were given a little over an hour to explore the ancient monastery and the rest of the small island before being whisked off to Staffa and Fingal's Cave and the incredible basalt columns.
Even after the small disappointment of having so little time on Iona the day was just wonderful! We finished it off with a night out at a Ceilidh dance - a bit of dance, bagpipes and lots of dancing by the "audience"